Legal and regulatory issues

Child abuse images

• US - ISPs to block access to child porn newsgroups  +/-

  (NY State AG) New York State Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo has agreed with Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint to shut down major sources of online child pornography. See also California pols ask ISPs to block child porn (CNET). Verizon, Time Warner Cable, and Sprint have said they have no plans to actually block access to any Web sites. Instead, they plan to purge or erase any child pornography that has been cached in their servers. They also plan to limit or block access to some of their own Usenet or news groups, which can be used to disseminate this material.

Computer crime

• UK - Flirty texting could land Scots in jail for 10 years  +/-

  (OUT-LAW News) Scots face up to 10 years in jail for sending text messages or emails with sexual content. Scotland's just-published Sexual Offences Bill contains stiff penalties for any sexual messages whose intent is to humiliate the recipient. The Bill creates a new offence of communicating indecently. The offence will be committed if someone sends an unsolicited text message to someone else which a court finds was designed to give the sender sexual gratification or to humiliate, distress or alarm the receiver.

Consumer protection

• EU - Brussels eyes internet retailing  +/-

  (FT) Moves to break down national borders in internet retailing so that customers can take advantage of prices offered by companies in different countries are to be championed by the EU's consumer protection commissioner. Meglena Kuneva plans an assault on companies which vary their online prices across the European Union but restrict customers to making purchases only on their own national website. Ms Kuneva will make the pledge as she announces plans for separate legislation for creating an EU-wide simplified set of rights governing online and High Street transactions. see Key Challenges for Consumer Policy in the Digital Age Speech by Meglena Kuneva, European Consumer Commissioner, Roundtable on Digital Issues, London, 20 June 2008. See also Commission sets out 5 priorities for consumer policy in a digital age and Gap between domestic and cross-border e-commerce grows wider, says EU report (Press Releases). Frequently Asked Questions on E-commerce in the European Union - Eurobarometer results.

• UK - ISPs sign up to Ofcom Code on broadband speeds  +/-

  (OUT-LAW News) A Code of Practice to ensure that internet service providers (ISPs) offer greater clarity over customers' broadband line speeds was published by Ofcom today. The Code does not require the disclosure of average speeds, but Ofcom said that might change. Some 32 ISPs, covering over 90% of broadband customers, have already agreed to honour both the letter and the spirit of the Code to give consumers a clearer understanding of the speeds they can get. Signatories include BT Total Broadband, Virgin Media, TalkTalk, Tiscali and AOL Broadband.

Content regulation

• Blogger arrests hit record high  +/-

  (BBC) More bloggers than ever face arrest for exposing human rights abuses or criticising governments, says the World Information Access Report. Since 2003, 64 people have been arrested for publishing their views on a blog, says the University of Washington annual report. In 2007 three times as many people were arrested for blogging about political issues than in 2006, it revealed. More than half of all the arrests since 2003 have been made in China, Egypt and Iran. See Blogger Arrests.

• CN / EU - China's censorship of Web unacceptable  +/-

  (Reuters) EU's telecoms chief Viviane Reding has said that China's censorship of the Internet was "unacceptable" and that the Beijing Olympics were a chance for the country to show its commitment to free flow of information. Reding, who is the European Commissioner for Information Society and Media said she regards the Internet as a free medium for expression and any curtailment of that is limiting the citizen's right to information. "People should be free to receive information, we do not think blocking of sites for political reasons is the right way to proceed," Reding told Reuters. "We say, for instance, to the Chinese very clearly that their blocking of certain Internet content is absolutely unacceptable to us," she said.

• UK - ASA puts brakes on LG mobile phone  +/-

  (Guardian) A television ad for LG mobile phones has been banned by the advertising watchdog because it appeared to show a woman using her handset while driving.

• UK - Minister backs code to tackle online sex and violence  +/-

  (Guardian) The government has signalled its support for a common set of standards for internet content in response to worries about the impact of violent and sexual output online. The culture secretary, Andy Burnham, said he wanted to see online content meet the same standards required for television as the boundaries between the two media continue to blur. Television in the UK is governed by the broadcasting code of Ofcom, the media regulator. There is no overall regulation for the internet. See Secretary of State speech to the Convergence Think Tank 11 June 2008.

• US - Website judge dropped from trial  +/-

  (BBC) A US judge has removed himself from an obscenity trial he was overseeing after it emerged that his own website featured sexually explicit images. Federal appeals court judge Alex Kozinski, 57, earlier suspended the trial of a businessman accused of distributing obscene videos. Mr Kozinski said he was not aware the explicit photographs and videos on his website could be seen by the public. Public access to his site has since been blocked. Mr Kozinski is a high-ranking and highly respected judge, and is chief judge of the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. See also The Kozinski mess by Larry Lessig.

Copyright, trademarks and patents

• FR - France to ban illegal downloaders from using the internet under three-strikes rule  +/-

  (Times) Anyone who persists in illicit downloading of music or films will be barred from broadband access under a controversial new law that makes France a pioneer in combating internet piracy. Under a cross-industry agreement, internet service providers (ISPs) must cut off access for up to a year for third-time offenders.

• Privacy Principles for Digital Watermarking  +/-

  (CDT) CDT released a paper offering a set of principles for addressing potential privacy considerations when deploying digital watermarking technology. Digital watermarks encode information in a media file by making subtle changes to the image, audio, or video. Much like watermarks on stationary, these changes typically would not be noticeable to a person viewing or listening to the content.

• UK - Virgin sends file-sharing warnings to customers  +/-

  (OUT-LAW News) Virgin Media has begun sending letters of warning to some of its customers saying that artists' lobby group the BPI has evidence of illegal file sharing from their accounts. Virgin, the UK's second largest ISP, is the first to take such action. The BPI and other content producers' lobby groups and the Government have urged internet service providers (ISPs) to operate a 'three strikes and you're out' policy to cut off internet access from people found to be engaging in illegal file-sharing. The Virgin letters contain no threat of disconnection, but do use a BPI-produced report of alleged illegal file sharing as the basis of the warning to customers to stop the activity.

Data Protection (privacy)

• Watching while you surf  +/-

  (Economist) Is it a worrying invasion of privacy for web surfers, or a lucrative new business model for online advertising? A new "behavioural" approach to targeting internet advertisements, being pioneered by companies such as Phorm, NebuAd and FrontPorch, is said to be both of these things. The idea is that special software, installed in the networks of internet-service providers (ISPs), intercepts webpage requests generated by their subscribers as they roam the net. The pages in question are delivered in the usual way, but are also scanned for particular keywords in order to build up a profile of each subscriber's interests. These profiles can then be used to target advertisements more accurately.

Digital content

• EU - Agreement between Cultural Institutions and Right Holders on Orphan Works  +/-

  (Europa) An agreement on copyright was signed by libraries, archives and right holders, in the presence of Commissioner Viviane Reding. The Memorandum of Understanding on orphan works will help cultural institutions to digitise books, films and music whose authors are unknown, making them available to the public online. In parallel, the High Level Group on Digital Libraries, chaired by Viviane Reding, adopted practical guidelines for partnerships between cultural institutions and private organisations. In relation to copyright issues, the High Level Group adopted a final report in which it endorsed a new model license for making works that are out of print or out of distribution accessible for all on the internet. It also gave guidance on copyright issues related to the preservation of web-content by cultural institutions. In the area of scientific information, publishers and scientists presented the progress of a large scale project on the effects of open access to scientific journals.

e-Government

• EU - Public Sector Information - On-line Consultation for review of the PSI Directive  +/-

  (Europa) The purpose of this online consultation is to gather information from as many sources as possible, including public sector content holders and commercial and non-commercial re-users (universities, NGOs) on their views on different aspects related to the implementation, impact and scope of the PSI Directive. The results of the online consultation will feed into the debate regarding the review of the PSI Directive. We are inviting interested parties to send us comments, suggestions and replies to the enclosed questionnaire by 31st July 2008 at the latest. More information(PDF).

e-Learning

• CoE - Realising the full potential of e-learning for education and training  +/-

  (CoE) European governments are being urged to expand the use of so-called "e-learning" tools and technologies in schools and universities to target new groups of students, for instance through distance learning, as well as to enhance classroom teaching by new interactive, collaborative and audiovisual/textual learning content. see Report and Recommendation 1836 (2008) (Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe).

Information society and Internet policy

• DE - Regulation of Broadcasting and Internet Services in Germany.  +/-

  (Hans-Bredow-Institut) A brief overview by W. Schulz, T. Held, S. Dreyer in cooperation with T. Wind (pdf) 2nd edition, March 2008.

• EU - Public consultation on Age Verification, Cross Media Rating and Classification, and Online Social Networking  +/-

  (Europa) The European Commission has launched a public consultation on age verification, cross media rating and classification, and online social networking. The purpose of the public consultation is to gather the knowledge and views of all relevant stakeholders (including public bodies, child safety and consumer organisations, industry). The gathered information will be fed into this year's Safer Internet Forum 2008, which will be dedicated to the above mentioned topics. The consultation will be open until 31 July 2008.

• EU - Seizing the Opportunities of the Global Internet Economy  +/-

  (RAPID) Viviane Reding, Member of the European Commission responsible for Information Society and Media,OECD Ministerial Meeting "Future of the internet economy" Seoul, Korea, 17-18 June 2008.

• OECD - Cybercrime risk to the internet economy  +/-

  (vnuent.com) Government ministers from across the world have issued a call for greater vigilance against cybercrime at a meeting on the future of the internet economy. The Seoul Declaration came at the end of a two day ministerial conference on the future of the web in the South Korean capital hosted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). OECD member countries, the European Community and ministers from Chile, Egypt, Estonia, India, Indonesia, Israel, Latvia, Senegal and Slovenia affirmed the declaration. Participants agreed on the need for governments to work closely with business, civil society and technical experts on policies that promote competition, empower and protect consumers, and expand internet access and use worldwide. See also Chair's Summary, Shaping policies for the future of the Internet economy and Annexes.

• OECD - How can the internet make this world a better place?  +/-

  (OECD) This is the question OECD is asking the public on YouTube at www.youtube.com/futureinternet. YouTube users can share their opinion with the leaders and opinion shapers attending the OECD Ministerial meeting on the "Future of the Internet" in Seoul, Korea on 17-18 June 2008. The OECD is organising the Ministerial Meeting. Government ministers from more than 40 countries, global business and civil society leaders, academics and technical experts will meet with more than 1000 participants to forge broad principles that can provide an enabling policy environment for the Internet Economy.

Interception

• DE - Did Deutsche Telekom Spy on Journalists and Board Members?  +/-

  (Spiegel) German telecommunications giant Deutsche Telekom stands accused of having monitored telephone calls of business journalists, board members and shareholders. An anonymous fax may result in a criminal investigation.

• ITU - New report on Lawful Interception  +/-

  (ITU) The sixth in a series of ITU-T Technology Watch Briefing Reports covers the technology and standards behind lawful interception (LI), the lawfully authorized monitoring and interception of telecommunications. The report addresses the importance of developing international standards assuring a transparent process of interception, focusing on the sometimes conflicting goals of privacy and security. Download Technology Watch report on Lawful Interception.

• SE - Sweden approves wiretapping law  +/-

  (BBC) Sweden's parliament has approved controversial new laws allowing authorities to spy on cross-border e-mail and telephone traffic. The country's intelligence bureau will be able to scan international calls, faxes and e-mails. The measure was passed by a narrow majority after a heated debate in the Stockholm parliament. Critics say it threatens civil liberties and represents Europe's most far-reaching eavesdropping plan.

Portals, browsers and search engines

• Yahoo!, eBay and Amazon - The three survivors  +/-

  (Economist) And so Yahoo! survives. The internet company - which, at the age of 14, is one of the oldest - appears in the end to have rebuffed Microsoft, the software Goliath that wanted to buy it. It has done so, in part, by surrendering to Google, the younger internet company that is its main rival. In a vague deal apparently designed to confuse antitrust regulators, Yahoo! is letting Google, the biggest force in web-search advertising, place text ads next to some of Yahoo!'s own search results. Google thus controls some or all of the ads on all the big search engines except Microsoft's. Yahoo! lives, but on the web's equivalent of life support.

Protection of minors

• Online safety as we know it: Becoming obsolete?  +/-

  (NetFamily News) The headline may seem a bit inflammatory, but it's a sincere suggestion coming from 10+ years of observing and participating in the online-safety field. What we all know about online youth now from a substantial and growing body of research suggests it's time to reassess. Young people make little distinction between online and offline and move constantly and fluidly between the two. The Internet has increasingly become a mirror of "real life". It's the young people at risk offline who are most at risk online, so expertise in adolescent at-risk behavior is necessary to the discussion. Where people with experience in online safety can help is by educating the public that online safety and well-being is not separate from "real life" and needs the same accountability; educating the public about how the Internet affects real-world actions or comments; serving as information clearing-houses and connectors to the right kind of expertise for predation, bullying, eating disorders, substance abuse, etc.

Racism and xenophobia

• DE - Rechtsextremes Angebot im Internet erreicht Höchststand  +/-

  (Heise) Das Angebot an deutschsprachiger, rechtsextremer Propaganda im Internet hat im vergangenen Jahr einen Höchststand erreicht. Allerdings war nicht mehr so viel Strafbares zu finden wie 2007. Das Team beobachtete 1635 rechtsextreme Websites und dokumentierte mehr als 750 rechtsextreme Videos und Profile auf interaktiven Web-2.0-Plattformen wie vor allem YouTube oder SchülerVZ. Das war so viel rechtsextremes Material wie noch nie seit Beginn der Beobachtungen im Jahr 2000.

Rating and filtering

• FR - French to block porn, terror, hate web sites  +/-

  (Reuters) The French state and Internet service providers have struck a deal to block sites carrying child pornography or content linked to terrorism or racial hatred, Interior Minister Michel Alliot-Marie announced. The plan, part of a larger effort to fight cybercriminality, is to go into effect in September when a "black list" will be built up based on input from Internet users who signal sites dealing with the offensive material.

• FR - Les FAI devront filtrer les sites pédopornographiques  +/-

  (ZDNet.fr) La ministre de l'Intérieur Michèle Alliot-Marie veut accélérer la lutte contre la pédopornographie sur internet. Dans un discours prononcé dans le cadre des Assises du numérique, elle a indiqué avoir trouvé un terrain d'entente avec les opérateurs télécoms et les fournisseurs d'accès internet (FAI) : « Nous nous sommes mis d'accord, l'accès aux sites à caractère pédopornographique sera bloqué en France. » Voir Allocution de Michèle ALLIOT-MARIE, Ministre de l'Intérieur, de l'Outre-Mer et des Collectivités Territoriales, lors de l'ouverture des Assises du Numérique - Atelier Lutte contre la cybercriminalité, le mardi 10 juin 2008. voir aussi La France vise un verrouillage de l'accès aux sites pédophiles avant 2009 (Le Monde). La France devrait mettre en place un système de blocage de l'accès aux sites pédopornographiques sur internet avant la fin 2008, a annoncé la secrétaire d'Etat française à la Famille, Nadine Morano, lors d'une visite d'étude en Norvège, pays pionnier en la matière.

• FR- Nadine Morano préconise une norme Afnor pour les logiciels de contrôle parental  +/-

  (vnunet.fr) A l'Atelier "Protection de l'Enfant" organisé par la secrétaire d'Etat en charge de la Famille dans le cadre des Assises du Numérique, la ministre a déclaré qu'"Il n'y aurait pas de confiance dans l'économie numérique sans protection des enfants sur le Web" et que cette protection devait reposer, "comme une voie ferrée, sur deux rails parallèles : le filtrage des sitespédopornographiques et les logiciels de contrôle parental." Sur le premier point, un accord doit être trouvé entre les différents ministères concernés et les fournisseurs d'accès. Une étude de faisabilité technique a été confiée au Forum des droits sur l'Internet. Nadine Morano a d'ailleurs rappelé son engagement à ce que ces fameux logiciels de filtrage atteignent un meilleur taux de performance. Un dispositif plus lourd d'élaboration du cahier des charges de ces logiciels de contrôle - passant peut-être par une norme Afnor - et de contrôle de ces outils - le processus d'évaluation resterait à définir - devrait être prochainement étudié avec les FAI. Enfin, la ministre a promis pour la fin de l'année une grande campagne audiovisuelle et multimédia de sensibilisation des parents aux dangers d'internet pour les jeunes.

• US - Verizon offers free parental controls  +/-

  (CNET) Verizon Communications plans soon to offer online parental controls for free to all its broadband customers in an ongoing effort to keep kids safe on the Net. Specifically, Verizon plans to offer parents the ability to block their children from viewing selected content. The company is also offering application filters so parents can limit access to certain applications. And Verizon is giving parents the ability to designate specific time periods when the Internet or certain functions can and cannot be used.

Safer Internet awareness

• IN - Google India launches nationwide Internet safety campaign  +/-

  (Press Release) Google India has launched a national Internet safety campaign called 'Be NetSmart'. The campaign was launched in Mumbai, in collaboration with the Mumbai Police. 'Be NetSmart' is an interactive campaign focussed on students in sixth standard and above. The sessions in schools cover topics that range from maintaining confidentiality and not interacting with strangers online to tips on downloading content, posting pictures, online chatting etc. In addition to students, parents and teachers are also being educated on Internet awareness and the need to be involved with children.

Social networking, user-generated content

• DE - Jugend- und Datenschutz in der digitalen Welt  +/-

  (Deutsches Digital Institut) Workshop in Berlin am 21. Mai 2008. Teilnehmer u.a. Frank Zimmermann (SPD-Fraktion im Abgeordnetenhaus), Marcus Riecke (studiVZ), Joel Berger (MySpace), Grietje Staffelt (Grünen-Fraktion im Bundestag), Sabine Frank (Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle der Multimediadiensteanbieter). Die klassischen Instrumente des Jugend- und Datenschutzes werden den Anforderungen der neuen Sozialen Netzwerke nicht gerecht. Dies ist das Fazit des mit hochkarätigen Vertretern aus den Bereichen Politik und Medien, Betreiber und Nutzer der führenden Sozialen Netzwerke besetzten Workshops des Deutschen Digitalen Instituts, Berlin.

Telecommunications

• EU - Telecom ministers dismiss plan for regulatory body  +/-

  (IDG News Service) The 27 telecommunication ministers of the European Union unanimously dismissed Commissioner Viviane Reding's plans to create a powerful central telecom regulatory body at a meeting in Luxembourg. They were more supportive of other elements of her reform plans, including the functional separation punishment with which she wants to threaten former telecom monopolies. They also backed her latest idea: to issue guidelines for the telecom industry on ensuring a fair return on investment and sharing of next-generation telecom infrastructure. See Council Press Release.

Video games

• DE - Spielen im Netz. Zur Systematisierung des Phänomens "Online-Games"  +/-

  (Hans-Bredow-Institut) Jan Schmidt / Stephan Dreyer / Claudia Lampert: (pdf-file, 1056 KB) Juni 2008.

Market & Technology

Mobile and wireless

• UK - T-Mobile cuts data roaming fees by 80 percent  +/-

  (ZDNet.co.uk) T-Mobile has announced a cut of 80 percent in its European data-roaming charges, in time for the 1 July deadline imposed on operators by the European Commission. Information society and media commissioner Viviane Reding told operators in February that they would have to make their data-roaming rates more reasonable by the start of July, otherwise the Commission would consider proposing strict new regulations on such charges. T-Mobile said its data-roaming charges within Europe would, as of 1 July, drop from £7.50 per megabyte to £1.50 per megabyte.

Statistics

• ComScore: Facebook is beating MySpace worldwide  +/-

  (CNET) New numbers from metrics firm ComScore show that in May, the battle of the social-networking sites may have gained a new front-runner: Facebook appears to have surpassed longtime rival MySpace in worldwide unique visitors for the first time. ComScore representatives said that this began in April when Facebook passed MySpace by a hair, and widened in May. see also Facebook in France: Bonne chance. Facebook's still a long-shot second place in French social networking, according to the metrics. Skyrock, a site almost completely unknown in the U.S., pulled in 11.5 million unique visitors in April 2008 compared to Facebook's 3.2.

• UK - Facebook profiles need shielding from media intrusion, say users  +/-

  (OUT-LAW News) Nine in ten web users want guidelines on what information the media can use from social networking sites and 78% would change the information they publish about themselves online if they thought it would later be reproduced in the mainstream media. The research was carried out by Ipsos MORI for the Press Complaints Commission and involved interviews with 1,000 British web users aged 16 - 64.

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